Ice Cream Man: Just when we were expecting a sequel to 2023’s Thanksgiving, Eli Roth brings us another horror with humour, in which the titular antagonist (Ari Millen – Undertone) dishes out free iced delights for all the kids to consume, only for it to result in them turning into homicidal maniacs.
With flavours such as Locust Lick and Creepy Crawly, some kids are woken in the night to bump off their parents in various ways, while others attack their teachers – the most graphic one being where a child digging a sharp knife into the headmaster’s bonce, carving all the way round, lifting off the top, using an ice cream scoop to excavate a portion of his brain, and feed it back to him to eat.
Jared’s (Charlie Zeltzer) unaffected because he’s lactose intolerant, and similar with a few friends including Mia (Kiori Mirza Waldman), all for various reasons. Plus, as an Android phone user, it’s funny to see that some of the kids struggle to simply use this type of device.
However, while I know this is a low-budget film – and most of the cast are young kids who are not quite teenagers, when they’re fumbling a line, or delivering it in a stilted way, I’m sure you can pause and do a retake? Writer/director (and also appearing as Jared’s Dad) Eli Roth hasn’t, so that’s lazy.
Ice Cream Man has come under a lot of criticism for being a terrible film, when it’s no worse than any other gross-out horror in terms of the gore it delivers, but following the above issues, there’s also bad editing at times, such as when Chris (Dylan Hawco) comes to save someone on top of a roof, who’s hounded by five kids on the ground. He drives past and stops, then agrees to deal with the problem.
However, as the camera cuts to the one who needs saving, you hear something going on with the car, but when Chris is shown again, he’s now backed into the drive, then takes out a powerjet washer and splats two of the kids.
Erm… you couldn’t film him simply reversing a truck? And what happened to the other 3 kids??
Elsewhere, there’s references to things we haven’t seen, as if scenes were filmed and then edited out without considering continuity. One also involves Chris, as he and the kids see an old man who’s dead and sat on his porch. Chris comments, “Someone rang his bell, huh?…. Because he used to… ring the bell in church?”
Did he? We weren’t shown at any point beforehand. Hence, the joke falls flat.
Plus, there’s the AI. A lot of us have used it at some point for various reasons, including myself, but when you’re making a movie that’s going up on the big screen? Let’s check the potential evidence.
The kids are entranced by a cartoon delivered to their phones, which looked potentially AI. Elsewhere, when cars and houses are on fire, that definitely looked like AI, plus one or two other elements I suspected – which comes across as very lazy, overall. Come on, Eli Roth, you can do better!
As the film began, of the many production companies involved, one is “S’Cream Productions”, which amused me, but Ice Cream Man probably should’ve been left out in the sun to let nature take its course.
NOTE: There is a post-credits scenes. Check out the video below for more!
Ice Cream Man is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 86 minutes
Release date: August 7th 2026
Studio: Studiocanal UK
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 4.5/10
Director: Eli Roth
Producers: Kate Harrison Karman, Eli Roth, Raj Brinder Singh, Christopher Woodrow
Writers: Noah Belson, Eli Roth
Music: Brandon Roberts
Cast:
The Ice Cream Man: Ari Millen
Jared: Charlie Zeltzer
Mia: Kiori Mirza Waldman
Tommy: Shiloh O’Reilly
Lizzie: Sarah Abbott
Piper: Charlie Storey
Chris: Dylan Hawco
Marty: Eli Roth
Principal Maloney: Darrin Baker
The Priest: Benjamin Byron Davis
Alison: Karen Cliche
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.